PHILADELPHIA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One-third of all Americans over
the age of 21 have high blood pressure. For 12 million of those patients,
medication does little to control it, putting them at risk for heart attack
and stroke. Researchers are testing a device that's designed to put blood
pressure back on track … and cut down on the need for pills.

Hazelene Jackson loves to whip up her family's favorite meals, but standing
over a hot stove or grill became more than her body could take. Jackson has
battled hypertension since she was 12 years old.

"My blood pressure would raise to 230 over 120, and sometimes even higher,"
Jackson told Ivanhoe.

That's dangerously above the normal adult pressure of 120 over 80. Over
time, hypertension left Jackson exhausted -- unable to work or care for her
family.

"I felt like a wet piece of bread," she said. "What can you do with a wet
piece of bread? Nothing."

Doctors implanted a device in Jackson's chest to lower her blood pressure.

"Similar to a pacemaker for the heart, there's a small battery and
controller component that goes underneath the skin and wires leading from
it," John Blebea, M.D., Chief of Vascular Surgery at Temple University
Hospital in Philadelphia, Penn., told Ivanhoe.

Instead of wires going down to the heart, the wires lead up to the carotid
arteries in the neck. When a patient's blood pressure is too high, they
stimulate a nerve in the neck.

"That causes the brain to send out multiple signals to try to bring down the
blood pressure," Dr. Blebea explained.

The brain sends those signals to lower a patient's heart rate by 10 beats
per minute and relaxes the arteries.

With the device in place, Jackson's blood pressure is near normal.

"I have energy," Jackson said. "I feel alive again. I can do the things that
I need to do."

The device is permanently implanted in patients and may require a battery
change every two or three years, which can be done under local anesthetic.
The surgery to implant the device can take several hours, and patients who
have hardened arteries or advanced heart disease are at increased risk of
stroke from the procedure. Most people with high blood pressure show no
symptoms and may go years without knowing they have it.
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